The Bent Creek Lodge offers a relaxing alternative to better-known accommodations in Asheville

Home to the Biltmore Estate, the Blue Ridge Parkway, the North Carolina Arboretum and a myriad of other noteworthy attractions, Asheville is one of the top tourist destinations in North America. With so much to attract visitors, it comes as no surprise that Asheville is home to many marvelous lodging possibilities; many with stratospheric price tags.

So it is always great when one encounters a top-tier option that falls into the affordable category; such a place is the Bent Creek Lodge in Arden, North Carolina. Located off of US 191 just south of the entrance to The Blue Ridge Parkway, about 10 miles south of city center. Lovingly operated for the past 10 years by Jodee and Doug Sellers, the Bent Creek Lodge should be on any Asheville visitor's short list of accommodation choices.

Boutique Travel Magazines of Interest to Automotive Traveler Readers

Airstream Life, American Road, Pilot Getaways, and Traveling Sportsman are four magazines that I suspect that Automotive Travelers readers will thoroughly enjoy. All four are unconventional niche travel magazines -- like Automotive Traveler -- in that they mix genres and interests into a unique editorial package. All four are independent magazines, meaning that each is published by a small, focused group of enthusiasts rather than some faceless, monolithic publishing empire.

(or Catching the Eye of an Editor, Part 3)

Over on cardomain.com, my good friend, Editor Jen Dunnaway just posted a rant on the sad state of the car photography that crosses her desk. She brings up some great points, especially with regard to the disappointing photos displayed when selling cars on eBay or Craigslist. This is a pet peeve of mine as well. Here's what she had to say, "The sloppiness is especially baffling when the purpose of the photograph in question is to sell the car, but photos taken for ads on eBay and Craigslist are far from immune to terrible photography. You'd think sellers would want to make their cars look good, wouldn't you?"

Last night I had the opportunity to shoot a great-looking 1968 Ford Mustang California Special, a limited-production Pony sold only in the western states. About 4,000 were built and this is an especially nice example, so I wanted to be sure my photography truly did the vehicle justice.  Let me walk you through what it takes to shoot your car properly, especially if you're going to submit it to a web site like cardomain.com or for publication in your favorite buff book.

Today's edition of USA Today has more bad news for travelers, as if we're not getting enough. First we learn that some rental car companies are charging a highway-robbery-like $8.00/gallon when you don't prepay for a full tank of fuel and come back with less than a full tank. And on the frequent flier front, US Airways continues to shoot themselves in the foot with full-fare business fliers with some hard-to-understand decisions regarding their best-paying passengers.